Tag: Art

Water Columns | Ceramic, Steel, Cable | 80,000 mxn/4600usd each

Water Columns are an expansion of the Bone Series which explores the unseen world of plankton. My interest in planktons began with microscopic images of radiolarians (single cell zooplankton) that have intricate and beautiful skeletal structures. In doing more research about them, I discovered just how important they are for the health of the planet.

Plankton are the base of the aquatic food web, they provide half of the planet’s oxygen and they absorb carbon out of the atmosphere, trapping it in the deep oceans when they die. I finds inspiration in the fact that even though they are too small to be seen with the naked eye, a bloom of plankton can be so large that it can be seen from space. In light of our changing climate, sharing the importance of these tiny and beautiful water based creatures seems vital to understanding how we are all connected.

About the Art: Lichen Series | Spore Patterns:

This piece is inspired by the biological structures of mushroom gills and the patterns the spores leave behind. The over 300 ceramic forms are based on a type of shelf fungus that has a leathery surface and wedge shaped form that anchors itself to the side of decaying trees. This piece is a 12 foot diameter circle about 18″ high off the ground and is placed at the Price Sculpture Forest on Whidbey Island in Washington state.

Conceptually, mushrooms speak of the cycle of life and death, since mycelium begins breaking down the dead waste in nature and the fruits of the mycelium (the mushrooms) are the new growth that comes from it. The spores that are dropped from the mushroom gills, spread the growth and the cycle continues. Mycelium are some of the largest living organisms on earth stretching underground over miles of terrain creating networks of communication throughout the landscape. This network makes them a symbol of growth through connection and how we are all connected to each other and to the systems and structures of nature.